An Overview from PRA’s President & CEO, Brian A. Rider
The 2015-16 Session of the PA General Assemby ended officially on November 30, 2016 and the 2017-18 Session will officially convene on January 3, 2017. PRA will reinstate our regular legislative conference call for all members who want to participate to recceive important and timely updates. We will also be sending to PRA members on a regular basis all important legislative introductions that would have an impact upon the retail industry in PA.
2016 STATE TAX SUMMARY: ACT 84 OF 2016
$31.6 BILLION BUDGET DOCUMENTS AND RESOURCES
Proposed tax and revenue modifications
http://www.pabudget.com/ProposedBudget.aspx
https://www.governor.pa.gov/budget/
LEGISLATIVE TRACKING
In the 2016-2017 Legislative Session of the Pennsylvania General Assembly, we closely monitored more than 250 legislative proposals that if enacted would have impacted the retail industry.
Bills of particular concern include a proposal to permanently eliminate our industry's 1% sales tax vendors' allowance, various forms of excessive increases in PA's minimum wage and mandated paid sick leave policies, as well as extremely burdensome sales tax increases and expansions.
In addition to protecting our members from harmful legislation, we also work hard to amend current law, when necessary (bad debt collection, tanning salon regulation). Likewise, we work with lawmakers to enact new laws, when necessary, as evidenced by Pennsylvania's strong organized retail theft legislation.
Lastly, we continue to actively support of E Fairness (sales tax collection on remote sales) at the federal level.
2015-2016 Legislative Wins
- Prevented Pennsylvania's minimum wage from increasing to $10,15 per hour
- Prevented the sales tax rate from increasing from 6% to 7%
- Sales tax exemption for clothing and footwear was preserved, despite property tax reformers pushin to overhaul the way school districts are currently funded
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